The Renewable Energies in Rural Areas Program was carried out by Germany’s Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) – an international cooperation agency – and the Chinese Academy of Science-affiliated, Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE), with China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) serving as a political counterpart.

The project – covering Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, and Yunnan provinces – focused on solar because it was part of China’s Brightness Program to deploy PV in 1,066 townships across 11 provinces. Beijing had apportioned around €470 million ($514 million) for hardware purchase from 2002 to 2004 under the Brightness Program.

That program spurred demand and drove more production capacity at established solar players including Canadian Solar, Sungrow, Trina Solar, Yingli Solar, and Suntech as well as attracting new entrants to PV manufacturing. Suntech’s NYSE listing in December 2005 added further market impetus and triggered a wave of overseas IPOs.